Front Sight, Press

“I shot the sheriff, but I swear it was in self defense.
I shot the sheriff and they say it was a capital offense”

– Bob Marley

In Atlanta an 88-year-old grandmother shot it out with group of plainclothes officers who broke down her front door. She winged three of them before they poured enough gun fire into her body that she died. She had committed no crime. In New York City, a young man leaving his bachelor’s party the day before he was to be married died at 4 AM on a darkened city street in a fusillade of gunfire from a team of detectives on a stake-out for vice and gun violations at a strip club. The victim was unarmed and had committed no crime other than to panic when he saw an armed man run out of the darkness toward him. His two companions were seriously wounded, one suffering 11 gunshot wounds. None of them were armed. None had committed a crime.

The common factor in these two tragedies is plain clothes. In both instances, police officers in street clothes rushed at innocent citizens with guns drawn. The victims, being innocent of any crime, had no reason to expect that the police would have any interest in them, and further, in the rush of events, they had no way to know that the armed individuals charging into their lives were police officers.

The lady who died in Atlanta had a name. She was Kathryn Johnston.

Crime and drugs are a part of the landscape in the rough neighborhood where Johnston lived, and her neighbors said they do what it takes to protect themselves. “It’s the roughest neighborhood in Georgia,” said 56-year-old Allen Pernel, who lives a few blocks from Johnston’s home. “If she thought somebody was coming into her house, she did what any of us would have done.” — CNN

I think the lady deserves a medal. She did not “go gently into that long night.” She fought back against nameless invaders charging into her home, and as it turns out, they were without any real justification for executing the dynamic entry in the first place.

“The confidential informant on whose word Atlanta police raided the house of an 88-year-old woman is now saying he never purchased drugs from her house and was told by police to lie and say he did.” — Reason Online

The bridegroom in New York City had a name too. It was Sean Bell. He was going to married the next day. He was 23 years old. There was no reason for him to die, but he’s gone now. What do you say to his family, “Ooops? Sorry”�

Both of these victims happen to be African-American, but I think the race-baiters like Al Sharpton do everyone a disservice when they try to make this a racial issue. It’s a police issue. The victims could have been any race and the outcome would have been the same. This could happen to any of us. All it would take would be a neighbor getting peeved over something and telling a detective that we were selling crack out of our living rooms or a junkie pulling an address out of thin air in an attempt to get released. I guess my dogs and I would die in the ensuing gunfight as well, because if a bunch of people tried to break into my house in the middle of the night, I would resist, although the ordnance might be a bit heavier than Kathryn Johnston’s. What would you do if some guy ran up to you on a dark city street waving a gun?

The cops have a very difficult job to do, and I don’t mean to be beating up on them in a one-sided way. They face situations that require the wisdom of Solomon and the lightning reactions of Wild Bill Hickok. Mistakes are going to happen. No one gets it right all the time. I am sure that every single officer involved in both of these situations is ripped up about it and may never get over it. I feel sorry for them too.

What we need to look at is the philosophy and procedures being used currently by law enforcement. Does every drug bust require a dynamic entry by the SWAT team? So a couple of joints get flushed down the drain. The old lady you save may be your grandmother. Maybe a couple of busts get missed, but we’re talking about peoples’ lives here — people who may not be guilty of any crime. Do you want to go to bed that night with the death of an old lady on your soul? The memory of a terrorized child staring up the barrel of your MP5? American citizens, even if they are guilty of a crime, do not deserve to be treated like al-Qaeda terrorists. We are not the enemy. Military procedures are not appropriate for most civilian law enforcement operations, but they are being used way too much. When the police know there is a dangerous criminal on the other side of the door, then sure, call in the cavalry, but a “tip” from a “confidential informant” is not enough.

Second, police officers doing regular policing should be wearing uniforms. Plain clothes has its role in surveillance and investigation, but for ordinary police operations, put on the uniform. In both of these incidents, the action was initiated by police officers in plain clothes, not uniforms. The victims panicked, tried to defend themselves and died. For regular police work, uniforms should be required. How do you know that the guy running out of the darkness at you with a gun is a police officer if he is dressed in civilian clothes? I also think that officers doing dynamic entries should be uniformed. Anyone can yell “police” when they’re kicking down your door. If people can see that these are definitely uniformed officers, they will be less likely to panic and do the wrong thing.